HTC hangs up on Jelly Bean for phones with 512MB of RAM

Restriction will keep several recent handsets on Android 4.0.

The upgrade path to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has been rocky for many. Handset makers have continually promised over-the-air software updates for devices stuck on previous Android versions, but many consumers are still waiting for upgrades. To add to their frustration, HTC's Android 4.1 upgrade FAQ lists some additional restrictions, noting that devices with 512MB RAM or less will not be upgraded to Android 4.1.

The FAQ indicates that HTC will prioritize the Jelly Bean update for its most-recently launched devices, including the HTC One X and One S. The company added that it will "consider [its] ability to provide updates to products from 2011," but for now no 2011-era devices are eligible. Indeed, the 512MB restriction even snares a few 2012-era handsets: specifically called out as not Jelly Bean-compatible are the HTC One V and Desire C, which are offered on pay-as-you-go networks like Virgin Mobile and Cricket Wireless (the Desire V, another 512MB handset, isn't listed). Handsets with 768MB of RAM, like the Desire X and Desire SV, are not mentioned. It's possible that HTC could eventually add these and other handsets to the upgrade list, but for now this is the only information the company has provided. Those who have been left in the upgrade dust can at least take comfort in knowing that HTC has promised to provide them with general software updates, security updates, and technical support.

As to why it's taken so long for some HTC phones to actually receive an update, the company says that its goal as a handset maker is to ensure that upgrades meet a "high standard of quality" for compatibility with its hardware and that it has to adapt Android for certain handset- and carrier-specific requirements.

It's nice that HTC is being up front with consumers by listing a few devices which definitely will and won't be getting Jelly Bean, but we would have appreciated definitive statements about the rest of the models as well. What's interesting to note, however, is that tablets limited to 512MB of RAM have had no problems running stock Jelly Bean. Indeed, the operating system appears quite frugal with memory. It's possible that HTC's Sense UI may be the reason that the company can't push forward updates to devices running on 512MB of RAM, but we had difficulty finding any actual system requirements for the Sense UI. We've reached out to HTC for comment and will update if we get a response.

HTC does not mention an official date or time frame for availability of the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update.

Either way, I suspect that the Android phone game is becoming a major loser for HTC and they are probably evaluating whether or not it makes sense to get into the Windows 8 Phone business instead. Fewer competitors, that's for sure.

I will love a setting on my phone that enables me to select the stock android (and getting updates as soon as google greenlights them) or the third party skins (and getting updates as soon as the handset manufactures greenlight them).

The one thing about Sense UI that keeps me from looking at alternatives is HTC's included mail app. The unified inbox and ability to set on/off-peak sync schedules are "must haves" for me as third-party mail clients are not permitted at work.

The one thing about Sense UI that keeps me from looking at alternatives is HTC's included mail app. The unified inbox and ability to set on/off-peak sync schedules are "must haves" for me as third-party mail clients are not permitted at work.

That doesn't make any sense. By definition, HTC's Mail app is "third party".

The one thing about Sense UI that keeps me from looking at alternatives is HTC's included mail app. The unified inbox and ability to set on/off-peak sync schedules are "must haves" for me as third-party mail clients are not permitted at work.

That doesn't make any sense. By definition, HTC's Mail app is "third party".

Poorly worded. The only mail apps permitted are those that came with the device.

I though JB was supposed to increase performance. What do I know, I'm just a consumer! Stories like these convince me to stick with the nexus brand for their updates from Google. Why does it seam that a phone maker could differentiate themselves by being stock. Android was built on the principles of freedom, why let carriers constrain users to a non-stock experience. I remember that guy that created the hoax with the customization center, I really wish that was real.

If you have to update recent devices before you can update older devices, a policy that makes sense, then what that really tells me if you need to release fewer devices. Otherwise, that means everything rapidly progresses to "old device" status and your entire product line essentially receives no updates. Please, simplify your line-up.

I do, however, applaud HTC for explicitly saying "no" to a class of/specific devices. A "no" is much easier to believe than a "yes" that gets delayed and ignored.

Increasing performance/efficiency isn't always win/win. You can often increase performance (speed to the end user) by increasing memory usage for the same task (caching, change of algorithm, etc.). It completes quicker, takes fewer CPU cycles and less energy, but consumes more memory while doing it. It's only better if you have spare resources of some kind to devote to it.

I don't know if that's the case with JB, just pure speculation/spitballing.

This is nothing new from HTC and it is the reason why I left HTC when I was finally due for a upgrade. Back in the HTC Desire days they announced that the Desire range will be getting the Gingerbread update and after months of waiting they dropped the bombshell that the Desire will not be getting Gingerbread due to memory constraints. Common theme in HTC phones, build it with minimum memory requirements to force users to upgrade. If anyone wants to know the story behind the Desire read here: http://www.theverge.com/2011/06/14/htc- ... ad-update/ and HTC wants to know why they are bleeding money...

I’m surprised to hear that ICS and JB custom ROMS work well on some of these older devices. I had a Nexus S (until this weekend) that became painfully slow after upgrading to ICS and even JB. Under Jelly Bean I could not play music and open Chrome without it crashing, for example. If the Nexus S had been a mass-market device, I would say that it should have not have been upgraded to ICS and beyond. Apple is conservative enough to make that decision quite often, and now I realize it probably results in a better user experience.

Granted, a lot of these devices are more powerful than the Nexus S (released late 2010), so I can’t claim that they’d actually get worse. But I don’t discount the possibility. Of course, it’s possible it has nothing to do with performance and they just can’t fit the OS on the ROM.

I’m now on an HTC One S with ICS. I don’t miss Google Now because it was so slow on the Nexus S that I barely used it. I still want Jelly Bean, but I think Android users need to accept that upgrades won’t be the norm. You’d better like the phone the day it was when you bought it. Even some Nexus phones take 4 months to upgrade, like the Nexus S to ICS, the Nexus S 4G to JB, and the CDMA Galaxy Nexus to JB. This is obviously more difficult than it sounds.

(Also, I actually like Sense. For one thing, it has decent Chinese handwriting input whereas stock Android does not. Google’s IME plugin for Chinese input is terrible, and it doesn’t have a button to switch back to the stock English keyboard. The Sense camera app is good too. I also prefer its use of buttons with labels instead of Google’s unlabeled buttons. That’s just personal preference. But the Chinese input thing is a big deal for me.)

As an owner of an Inspire 4g stalled out on Gingerbread due to similar HTC shortsighted-ness, all I can say is, welcome to the club.

Considering how poorly my One V already runs ICS I was hoping an update to Jelly Bean would smooth out some of the UI with it's project butter. My brother's Nexus S runs Jelly Bean far better than my One V runs ICS and they are pretty similar in specs. Sense is terrible garbage. When I heard they pared it back for the One Series I was optimistic. But nope, no real great features added at the expense of terrible performance.

I'll be selling my Sensation 4G after iI get my Nexus 4. If HTC doesn't go under they might realize that jumping on the 2GB RAM bandwagon is a good thing. I like the phone, iI hate waiting 10 seconds for the home screen to reload so iI can wait for the app drawer to load so I can launch an app that I hadn't recently used.

I'll be selling my Sensation 4G after iI get my Nexus 4. If HTC doesn't go under they might realize that jumping on the 2GB RAM bandwagon is a good thing. I like the phone, iI hate waiting 10 seconds for the home screen to reload so iI can wait for the app drawer to load so I can launch an app that I hadn't recently used.

Agreed, I'll be doing the same with mine. The one thing people have to remember though is back in the Froyo-Gingerbread time period Sense was actually quite handy, it added a better camera app (imo at the time), good connectivity options when you plug it in via USB (USB tethering, mount as SD card option etc). Before Facebook would integrate with your contacts Sense did that for you, which was and still is extremely nice (Keeps my friends phone numbers up to date without my intervention, and keeps a picture of them handy so I can actually see who is calling).

These days I would do without Sense, but at the time when I bought my Sensation it was still pretty nice.

There are a few JB ROMs on xda-developers for the sensation, but none of them have sense. Considering the performance improvements over ICS, I would guess that 512MB devices would run even better with JB. However, the lack of JB ROMs with sense leads me to believe that there is an underlying technical problem with that combination.

I had a Nexus S (until this weekend) that became painfully slow after upgrading to ICS and even JB. Under Jelly Bean I could not play music and open Chrome without it crashing, for example. If the Nexus S had been a mass-market device, I would say that it should have not have been upgraded to ICS and beyond. Apple is conservative enough to make that decision quite often, and now I realize it probably results in a better user experience.

I'm surprised to hear you say this. I have a Nexus S running the stock JB 4.1.2 ROM and it runs really smoothly. I also have a Nexus 7 and although in intensive tasks it is faster and smoother than the S, I really don't notice a huge difference in day-to-day homescreen/app menu scrolling etc.

That said, the Chrome browser on the Nexus S is terrible. I use an alternative (xScope) which doesn't have nearly as many problems or slowdowns.

Unless Sense is set to run on unlimited RAM, which would indicate something's seriously wrong with their software, otherwise there's absolutely no reason why Sense and/or JB would be the reason that their 512 MB handsets cannot be updated.

The more likely reason is that they simply don't want to upgrade lower end hardware and don't want to be too obviously about it.

I'm surprised to hear you say this. I have a Nexus S running the stock JB 4.1.2 ROM and it runs really smoothly. I also have a Nexus 7 and although in intensive tasks it is faster and smoother than the S, I really don't notice a huge difference in day-to-day homescreen/app menu scrolling etc.

Dang. Dunno... it had its good days, but I'd get plenty of time out errors in Browser, Camera, Google Now, and Maps. Sometimes I'd have to wait a few seconds when flipping between home screens. It was on 4.1.2 as well. If my case was the outlier, then that's definitely good news for Android.

I'm surprised to hear you say this. I have a Nexus S running the stock JB 4.1.2 ROM and it runs really smoothly. I also have a Nexus 7 and although in intensive tasks it is faster and smoother than the S, I really don't notice a huge difference in day-to-day homescreen/app menu scrolling etc.

Dang. Dunno... it had its good days, but I'd get plenty of time out errors in Browser, Camera, Google Now, and Maps. Sometimes I'd have to wait a few seconds when flipping between home screens. It was on 4.1.2 as well. If my case was the outlier, then that's definitely good news for Android.

You can try Factory Reset + clear cache and see if it helps. Backup your data first of course.

Meanwhile, a 3GS with 256 MB memory runs the latest iOS version, and is getting the next one under dev right now as well. I guess the "actually supporting your devices" patent wasn't one they managed to license from Apple in their recent settlement?

Florence Ion / Florence was a former Reviews Editor at Ars, with a focus on Android, gadgets, and essential gear. She received a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area.